Sci-Fi Film and Television Developments

Skyfall (James Bond 23rd film)

11/8/11 – Variety reported that Helen McCrory and Ola Rapace have joined the cast of James Bond film Skyfall. 

11/3/11 - Daniel Craig marks his return as British secret agent James Bond in the 23rd installment titled Skyfall, according to The Hollywood Reporter.  Craig will play opposite Skyfall’s villian Javier Bardem, who stars alongside Ralph Fiennes, Albert Finney, Judi Dench and Ben Whishaw.  Director Sam Mendes introduced Craig, Dench, Bardem and Skyfall’s Bond girls played by French actress Berenice Marlohe and Britain's Naomie Harris at a news conference Thursday in the British capital.  Mendes said the movie starts shooting Monday on location in London and at Pinewood Studios on the outskirts of the city as well as locations in Shanghai, Istanbul and other parts of Turkey and “the wilds of Scotland.”  While details of the script penned by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and John Logan remain a tightly guarded secret, the movie involves Bond’s loyalty to M being tested after her past comes back to haunt her.  As MI6 comes under attack, 007 has to track down and destroy the threat no matter how personal the cost.  Sony Pictures will distribute the film on November 9, 2012.

4/13/11 - The next two films in MGM's James Bond franchise will be co-financed and distributed by Sony Pictures, the studios said.  The first one, with a working title of "Bond 23," is set for worldwide release on November 9, 2012.  With Daniel Craig playing 007 for a third time, it will mark the first Bond film since Quantum of Solace.  As for "Bond 24," the studios said in a statement they "look forward" to partnering on the film on a similar basis.  As part of the Bond deal, Sony and MGM will "explore co-financing opportunities on future motion pictures produced by each of the respective studios for the next five years." 

1/11/11 - James Bond, 007, is set to return to movie theaters for a 23rd version of the long-running and lucrative film franchise, its makers at EON Productions and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film studio said on Tuesday.  The announcement follows MGM's emergence from bankruptcy in December.  MGM and EON said Daniel Craig will return as Bond when the film releases in November 2012.  Production is set to begin in late 2011.  Sam Mendes will direct.

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